One of the topic that you could use in your essay is the Literary device that Tolstoy use in writing his novel. This include many aspect of literature , such as epigraph , imagery, foreshadowing, metaphor, point of view, personification, structure, etc
hope this helps
Sentences that do not conform to standard punctuation signal an informal stream-of-consciousness style, because they tend to show how a person is thinking - you do not think in terms of commas and full stops.
The sentence in this excerpt that shows the author reflecting on memories of his experience, rather than recounting factual information is - The apathy which seemed to take possession of some of the men at the frustration of their hopes was soon dispelled.
